ROMNEY WINS WASHINGTON GOP CAUCUSES

Fourth campaign triumph in a row, fresh show of strength in run-up to Super Tuesday

WASHINGTON 
Mitt Romney rolled to a double-digit victory in Washington state’s Republican presidential caucuses Saturday night, his fourth campaign triumph in a row and a fresh show of strength in the run-up to 10 Super Tuesday contests in all regions of the country.

Rick Santorum and Ron Paul battled for second place, while Newt Gingrich ran a distant fourth.

Claiming his victory, Romney said in a statement the win meant Washington state’s voters “do not want a Washington insider in the White House. They want a conservative businessman who understands the private sector and knows how to get the federal government out of the way so that the economy can once again grow vigorously.”

Romney’s West Coast victory came on the heels of twin primary triumphs over Santorum earlier in the week in hard-fought Michigan and lightly contested Arizona, as well as a narrow win over Paul in Maine caucuses earlier in February. Returns from caucuses in 60 percent of Washington state’s precincts showed Romney with 37 percent of the vote, while Paul and Santorum each had 24 percent. Gingrich was drawing 11 percent.

Romney’s win was worth at least 12 of the 40 delegates at stake. Paul and Santorum each won at least three. The rest remained unallocated, pending final returns.

That brought Romney’s overall total to 185 delegates, according to an Associated Press count that includes party officials who will vote on the selection of a nominee but are not selected at primaries or caucuses. Santorum had 90, Gingrich 33 and Paul 23. It takes 1,144 delegates to win the nomination at the Republican National Convention this summer in Tampa and challenge President Barack Obama in the fall.

Romney, Santorum and Gingrich were campaigning in Ohio — the most intensely contested of the Super Tuesday states — as the first caucus returns were reported.

Romney criticized Obama after a woman attending a campaign rally in Beavercreek said she had a daughter stationed in Afghanistan who believes the U.S. mission there is unclear. The woman asked when Romney would bring the troops home.

“If your daughter is not familiar with the mission that she’s on, how in the world can the commander in chief sleep at night, knowing that we have soldiers in harm’s way that don’t know exactly, precisely, what it is that they’re doing there,” the former Massachusetts governor said.

He said he’d bring troops home “as soon as humanly possible — as soon as that mission is complete.”

While in Ohio, Santorum touted his plan to improve the nation’s manufacturing base and said part of the effort must include a reduction in the number of children born out of wedlock. Gingrich also campaigned in Ohio. He must notch a Super Tuesday win in Georgia, where he launched his political career, but says he also has a chance to pick up delegates in Ohio.

Paul was in Washington state as the caucuses began, searching for his first victory of the campaign.